Videos and Presentations of EAD 2012 Plenary Speakers Now Available on EAD’s Website

Videos and Presentations of EAD 2012 Plenary Speakers Now Available on EAD’s Website

Videos and Presentations of EAD 2012 Plenary Speakers Now Available on EAD’s Website
AdvocacyDays.org

Beginning Friday, March 23, 2012 through Monday, March 26, nearly 1,000 Christians took part in the 2012 Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice in Washington, D.C. This year’s 10th Anniversary gathering was titled, “Is THIS the Fast I Seek?  Economy, Livelihood and Our National Priorities.” Ecumenical Advocacy Days is a movement of the ecumenical Christian community, and its recognized partners and allies, to strengthen Christian voices and to mobilize for advocacy on a wide variety of U.S. domestic and international policy issues.
 
The highlight of the three-day gathering was the release of a faithful federal budget. “The Faithful Budget” promotes comprehensive and compassionate budget principles that will “protect the common good, values each individual and his or her livelihood, and helps lift the burden on the poor, rather than increasing it while shielding the wealthiest from any additional sacrifice.”   
 
A delegation of the nation’s leading religious officials unveiled The Faithful Budget at a national press conference on Thursday, March 22, on the front lawn of the United Methodist Building across from the U.S. Capitol Building — on the eve of nearly 1,000 EAD participants arriving in Washington, DC for the EAD Lobby Day. The Faithful Budget called, “Priorities for a Faithful Federal Budget: Acting with Mercy and Justice as One Nation Under God,” is a call to action from The Faithful Budget Campaign and will be submitted to the U.S. Congress as part of the Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2012 Lobby Day on Monday, March 26th  
 
On Monday, March 26, EAD participants delivered the Faithful Budget to their Senators and Members of Congress, and lobbied for restoring economic opportunity, ensuring adequate resources for shared priorities, prioritizing human security, meeting immediate needs, accepting intergenerational responsibility, environmental reform, access to health care, and the role of government.
 
Specifically, the EAD 2012 “Legislative Ask” is:
 
As people of faith, we urge you to defend people struggling to live in dignity by funding programs that protect vulnerable populations here and abroad. Enact a faithful federal budget that serves the common good, provides robust funding for people struggling to overcome poverty, and exercises proper care of the earth.
 
The Faithful Budget was spearheaded by a coalition of leading Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other faith organizations affiliated with many of the major religious denominational movements, including EAD Sponsors such as the American Friends Service Committee, Bread for the World, Church of the Brethren; Church World Service; Franciscan Action Network; National Council of Churches; NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby; various Catholic congregations and orders; Presbyterian Church (USA); Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ; the United Methodist Church and the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
 
The Faithful Budget is a continuation of the Faithful Budget Campaign, of which EAD is actively engaged. The effort was launched in July 2011 by the religious community during the height of the congressional debt ceiling battle to lift up faithful voices on behalf of the nation’s most vulnerable in order to encourage the administration and Congress to maintain a robust commitment to domestic and international poverty assistance programs.
 
Additional details about the Faithful Budget Campaign can be found at www.faithfulbudget.org.